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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 1974)
Page 2 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1974 P Lucille 'j4//en ’.i £Btida/ tMcfijit 407 E. 29th COMPLETE WEDDING SERVICE Tuxedo Rental Florist Service: Silk & Fresh Special Occasion Dresses Mon-Sat 9:00-5:30 Open late Thursday (1 block off Texas Ave.) 823-8405 The economic reply ’Bidding ends lines, scalpers By MIKE PERRIN The current ticket distribution system is unfair and outmoded. So is the new scheme outlined by Stu dent Government. But a good sys tem can be created at this Wednesday s Senate meeting. Long lines are a waste of time. They can exclude the student who must work long hours and who must study to maintain good grades or even passing ones. In other words, the people who stand in long lines usually have nothing better to do- —they don’t work or study or have any other time-consuming in terests. Of course, groups take turns standing, but just as much total time is still wasted. The seniority system has an as sumption which reads, “In return for pain and suffering at TAMU, you get a chance at better seats than those who have suffered less. ” This position is hardly defensible. The proposed system is that a student may pick up 6 tickets max imum, and seating shall be random. Pickup is still based on the seniority system. It is not clear if random seat ing means that the tickets given at the window have seat numbers on them, but they may be in any order; for example, the man in front of you buys six tickets in section 233. You get four tickets in section 230. In other words, your group sits to gether, but it may happen to get seats at any point in the stadium. If this system is random seating, it is unfair to the extent that the student now has no control over his seats. All seats are not created equal, so a scramble would be on to get those tickets which are good seats from those lucky ones who got them. Scalping would take place because value received at the window is not equal, but the price paid is. On the other hand, if random sea ting means that there is no seat number of the ticket and you may sit anywhere you please, then we are back to lines. Not at the ticket booth, but at the game gates. To ensure getting a good seat, some people will spend the night at Gate 4 and other measures similar to the ones we see now. Scalping now takes a different form. The scalper gets there early and gets the best seats; he then offers to sell them. This plan solves nothing—it either only shifts the lines and scalp ing from the ticket booth to the field or it encourages the consumer to make a blind choice of product. Either option is a reshuffling of the same old tired hand. But a system exists that can eliminate lines, end scalping, end arbitrary limitations on ticket num bers, end the needless mess of the seniority system, and further, get football off the student backs as a mandatory fee burden. Over $170,000 is forcibly extracted from students for athletics. This figure was recommended by students in the Senate. This burden is com pletely unnecessary. At the regist ration period, each student would mark his bids on number of tickets for the games he chooses. He also marks his area preference. Exam ple: He marks down that he would pay $5 each for 4 tickets to TCU anyplace in the stadium and $36 each for two tickets to the LSU game between the 40 yard lines. Listen up The Athletic Department takes the highest bids and mails them tickets to the game. As an example, if the student specified that he wanted to sit between the 40 yard lines and all those tickets were sold for more than $5, he would get no tickets and pay nothing. All the “losers” pay no thing; then a week before each game, the Athletic Department would release more tickets for sale, again on a bid basis. The “winners” would get tickets mailed to them. The advantages—no lines with plenty of time to get bids in; no scalping—since anyone who would pay a higher price than a scalper has already done so by outbidding him; no arbitrariness—the students who want to go the worst pay the most; students are not penalized for work ing or studying; they also know what they are buying, since they marked on their bid form the areas they were interested in; no mandatory burden on students. 15% OFF On Purchase of $50.00 or Over 10% OFF On Purchase of $50.00 or Less FOR YOU AGS WITH YOUR STUDENT ID, Douglas Jewelry | 212 N. Main Downtown Bryan 822-3119 Game shuttle suggested Editor: I’m a day student and, like so many others living a considerable distance from campus, invested $15 in a shuttle ticket. The service is reasonable, and re cent changes in route schedules have been aimed at improvement. It could, however, become more complete and satisfactory for student’s needs if the service in cluded what many other univer sities offer—runs to and from the stadium on game days. Not only would this be of great help to those of us who want to get out and support the Aggies but lack transportation, but it would also al leviate much of the congestion and havoc created by traffic in the rush for the scarce parking facilities. The $15ls charged per individual adds up to a considerable sum which should be ample to cover this extra service. For those without semester tickets and wishing to use the con venience, perhaps a small 15 cent or 25 cent charge per game would suf fice. Susan Majors, ’76 The possibility of those sugges tions will be investigated—Ed. Danger cited Editor: Traffic on University Drive dur ing the rush hours is terrible. I live in the College View apartments and it is not only difficult, but dangerous as well to cross from the apartment area to the main campus. It is bad enough for someone in a car to stick his neck out in this traffic but to see pedestrians and bike rid ers crossing a major thoroughfare like this without any protection is absurd. A stop-light at this intersection might solve some problems for pedestrians and drivers if it could be coordinated with the light at Col lege Avenue. It could be operated during rush hours only since traffic isn’t so bad during the day. If a light was found to be imprac tical, maybe a pedestrian overpass could be the answer. I don’t know enough about traffic control to provide a solution, but I do know enough to see a definite problem. With the Texas Transpor tation Institute right here in our backyard, it seems that somebody could come up with something. Expensive? you say. To begin with, we are talking about very val uable human lives. So far no one has been hurt at this intersection (that I know of) but I don’t think that this is a statistic we can rely on. Secondly, I know of a certain $400,000 wall that has little or no value to a great number of people here. I hope someone with the author ity and knowledge to solve this problem will get to it right away. I might point out that any research that doesn’t result in a working solu tion will be a waste of time and money. Hand Painted Originals for Husbands, Fathers, Grandfathers, Brothers, Uncles, etc. 601 -1 3 Tie Tack Each featuring a single stem bluebonnet hand painted and fired on fine china with yellow gold or sterling finish mounts. itT&s Available only at \ 816 Villa Maria Rd., Bryan, Texas 77801 (713) 823-5211 open 10 00 - 5:30 Mon.-Sat. .A J ' jmt ijm ‘ urcNs m\ WJ C0MER5KVMKD fRu Iff Hpaxiszr, fUJ M 2L ^ 'NOW, BITE ON THE BULLET—THAT'LL STOP YOU WASTING ALL YOUR MONEY ON POODI' Che Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor on re 9 uest - Address: The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of station, n\as /7B43. the university administration or the Board of Directors. The The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise operated news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in the paper and local by students as a university and community newspaper. Editor- news of spontaneous origin published herein Right of reproduction of all . , . j , . ii ... /-.i , other matter herein are also reserved. ial policy IS determined by a majority of the editorial board. Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas. LETTERS POLICY Editor Greg Moses Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are Assistant Editor Will Anderson subject to beingcut to that length or less if longer. The editorial Managing Editor LaTonya Perrin staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guaran- Sports Editor Mike Bruton tee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the Photo Editor Alan Killingsworth address of the writer and list a telephone number for verifica- News Editor Hank Wahrmund Hon. Copy Editors . . Cynthia Maciel, Carson Campbell. Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room News Editor T.C. Gallucci 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. Steve Bales Members of the Student Publications Board are: Jim Lindsey, chairman; City Editor Rod Speer Dr. Tom Adair, Dr. R. A. Albanese, Dr. H. E. Hierth, w. C. Harrison, Steve Special Assignment Reporters Teresa Coslett, ■Eberhard, Don Hegi, and John Nash, Jr. Ray Grasshoff; Richard Henderson, Paul McGrath, Tony Gal- Represented nationallybyNahona) Educational Advertising Services, Inc., ^ cci ’ Mark Weaver, Gerald Olivier, Joe Matthews, Steve New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Gray, Jack Hodges, Judy Baggett, Barbara West, Wendy Wetzel MEMBER General Assignment Reporters Dave Johnson, The Associated Press, Texas Press Association Richard Kotrla, Kanaya Mahendra, Jim Peters, Chirra Reddi, — —■— David White, Hazel Campbell, Steve Uekert, Cindy Taber, The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas a&m, is published in College Linda Lea, LeAnn Roby, Roxie Hearn, Debi Holliday, Rose Station.Texas, daily except Saturday. Sunday. Monday, and holiday periods, Mary Traverse, Ron Amsler, Robert Cessna, Mary Russo September through Mav, and once a week during summer school. 1 Photographers Doug Winship, Mail subscriptions are $5.00 per semester; $9.50 per school vear; S10.50 per David Kimmel, Jack Holm, Steve Ueckert, Glen Johnson, full year. All subscriptions subject to 5% sales tax. Advertising rate furnished Chris Svatek, Gary Baldasari, Rodger Mallison. CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION Each Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.—Holy Eucharist and Supper Thursdays, 6:30 a.m.—Holy Eucharist and Breakfast EPISCOPAL STUDENT CENTER 904-906 Jersey Street (Southern Boundary of Campus) 846-1726 Father James T. Moore Chaplain STUDENT FLORAL CONCESSION “AGGIE MUMS” $3 $4 $6 (Tax Included) Location MSC Tuesday-Friday 11-5 Floriculture Greenhouse Tuesday-Friday 8-5 Engineers: Find out about the Nuclear Navy. If you thinkyou have the ability and desire to master nuclear engineering, the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program has openings for about 200 outstanding college graduates. There’s a Navy Recruiting Officer ready to give you all the details on how you can become someone special in the new Navy. NAVY OFFICER INFORMATION TEAM ON CAMPUS 7-11 Oct. MSC and ZACHRY ENG. CTR. OR CALL COLLECT 713-224-5897 PEANUT'S FEAR NOT/ HERE C0ME5 THE WORLP-FAMOUf? MEMBER OF THE EMEftSENCY RESCUE SQUAP 1 .